Reports: Rafa Has Agreed Terms With Top Free Agent For Summer Signing

Promising reports are coming out of Turkey that Rafa Benitez has 25-year-old free agent Oguzhan Ozyakup from Besiktas lined up to sign for Newcastle in the summer.

When a top player becomes a free agent, there’s a lot of competition, and that’s been true of the 30 times capped Turkish International midfielder.

We’re also sure Rafa wants to do as many deals as possible even before the transfer window opens in July, so he is not left in the same position by Mike Ashley this summer as he was last summer.

Oguzhan Ozyakup – 25-year-old Besiktas central midfielder

That mess has caused our current umpteenth fight against relegation.

That’s always assuming we survive the drop and Rafa stays with Newcastle.

The news is that Rafa has already met with Ozyakup’s agent Kees Vos and lawyer Alfredo Seco to get the deal agreed to.

So if these reports are accurate we assume the Netherlands-born player has signed a pre-contract agreement that he will sign on a permanent basis for Newcastle in the summer when his Besiktas contract runs out.

With a top class free agent available you sometimes need to give them a signing-on fee and big wages (of course) so it’s not surprising that it is being reported he will become the top wage earner at Newcastle (if and) when he signs.

Ozyakup was previously at AZ and was part of the Arsenal Academy and he finally joined Besiktas back in 2012.

He has played 207 times for Besiktas with 27 goals and 46 assists.

The Besiktas central midfielder has a phenomenal work-rate and will make a huge difference in the middle of the park for Newcastle next season – assuming we sign him.

The 5ft 11ins player is also versatile and has also played in the number 10 position.

60 comments so far

What’s that? An early signing? The club have got their finger out and beaten other clubs to the signing of a decent player? Have I been slipped a trip and I’m now floating along in some enhanced reality?

I would ask how many players have we been linked with over the last 10 years of transfer windows while Ashley owned the club compared to how many have we actually signed or at least been proven to actually bid for?

Journalists have to sell papers and every link to a player must pay their wages if their article is published. But 99.99% of them are untrue or just speculation not based on fact. I just don’t believe any article linking us with a player including this one. Why get excited over fake news

I’m surprised at the lack of reaction to this article. Surely we should see 10 posts saying “he’s sh!t, why are we bothering”, 10 saying “he’s great, I saw him score a hat trick vs Croydon, he was mint” and another 10 saying “let’s see what he’s like before we judge him”

After the last three transfer windows which have been disapponting and if there is any truth in this at all, i hope RAFA has pulled this off? It would mot surprise me at all if another club jump in and scupper any Deal made though ! In RAFA we trust!

Can’t believe that anybody thinks that we are relagated if we don’t win tomorrow. Win lose or draw there are still twists and turns ahead. I do believe we will have to rely on others to fluff their lines for us to stay up though

I’m not sure if I am correct but can’t a foreign player who is a summer free agent, sign a pre-contract with a new team before the summer window opens? And the new team can announce the signing of the player to the pre-contract? So if that is the rules – then if this player has agreed terms, then why not announce it? If the club won’t announce it then I would suggest that this rumour is bollocks.

Do you remember Steve Thompson ..not sure if it was the Sands club ..it was the one that burned down.. Seaward side of the road…I know him through music …writing songs for various ..Elkie Brooks etc ..

Well Ashley will run the club the way he always has. No deficit, unless it’s too get us back up. Rafa will now have a very unbiased and unvarnished view of what he’s going to get in the off season. Little has changed since Pardew, in terms of how the clubs finances are run, but we do a significantly better manager now, and he won’t have unwanted players foisted on him, and that certainly does augur far better.

Match day, I’m excited but nervous. Will be supporting the lads all the way though, can’t help feeling that nothing less than 3pts would be a disaster, not the end of the world if we get a point but we really should and need to win these 6 pointers!!

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